The Shadows of Friendship
by Cloudchaser the Unicorn
Summary: When a seemingly normal Mobian fox finds a small necklace, his life is changed forever as he is taken into another dimension and plunged into a complex world of treachery, trust, and love as he fights against an enemy with an unknown motive and a power beyond anyone's imagination.


0)-Mobius-(0

I sighed deeply, staring up at the blue sky, lazily examining the few clouds that floated about the sky. It was... relaxing to say the least, and right now I wanted nothing more than to close my eyes and drift off to sleep.

"Sonic!" I heard a loud shout from not too far away causing my ear to twitch at the obnoxious high pitched voice.

"Wonderful..." Mumbled a blue hedgehog with green eyes and red running shoes, I turned my head to see him get off "I don't understand why she likes me so much..."

"Maybe she can actually see your "charming good looks" that you're always going on about" I said chuckling.

Sonic chuckled in return pulling on his gloves "Maybe... alright Cloud looks like I've got to make another run for it, I'll see you later"

"See you Sonic, I'll tell Tails you said hi." I said sitting up and stretching my arms.

"Thanks bud," with that he sped off.

I sighed as I sat up and checked the time on my watch. It was getting increasingly late and I didn't want to be outside after dark.

I stood up and looked out towards the sparkling lake. It was just starting to get dark, leaving a faint tint of orange and purple in the sky over the lake. I looked down at my reflection to find that as usual, nothing had changed. I was still a fox, tall and lanky, but still fairly well filled. My dark blue fur was still slightly messy, but clean. My chest fur and muzzle was still a light blue that went with my darker fur fairly well. My fluffy tail twitched slightly showing off it's dark blue body and lighter blue tip. My green eyes glowed intelligently but were slightly foggy from exhaustion.

I walked away from the reflection, slipping on my white socks and dark green tennis shoes with black stripes before setting off on a brisk walk towards our house. I glanced at the sun and found it setting, causing me to pick up my pace. I had been reading the local news and been hearing stories about people disappearing while it was dark. I was no person to believe in anything that's not presented in front of me, but it couldn't hurt to be too careful. Besides, I was outside of Emerald City where I lived, and the lack of lights made it difficult to see in the dark; roots and rocks weren't exactly very forgiving things.

With a quickened pace I managed to at least make it into the city before the sunset so I could at least see where I was walking. Mobians milled about and cars drove in the paved roads, but there was an obvious decrease in people that walked the streets. I sighed, walking back to our house and pulling out my house key. I was happy to say we lived in a nice, place, it was no mansion, with only a single story and a basement, but it was big enough to fit three people living together.

"Hey Cloudchaser!" said a familiar white tiger that was hanging out in the living room. His snow white fur was interrupted only by three black stripes on his back. His shoes were similar to mine, with the same black stripes, but a red base as opposed to green. His blue eyes were sparkling with happiness and mischievousness, but other than that his defining quality was his size. He was by far the strongest of everyone in our group combined, although not the tallest, his arms were bulging with muscles, maybe not a hulking size, but still strong enough to be intimidating.

Once you got to know him however, he's a great friend and always willing to lend a hand, just don't make him angry...

"Hey Fire Wing..." I said waving and collapsing on the sofa "Is Tails here?"

"I didn't check," He told me "I'm just as tired as you are..."

Both me and Wing had jobs, jobs that were boring, long, hard, and... well... they were jobs. Tails was the only one with no official job, but he pulls his weight. Being students fresh out of college, we were naturally hard on things, and I can't tell you how many times Tails' mechanical skills have saved us money. He's repaired our TV, fridge, radio, and... well the list goes on and on. Beyond that though he cleans the house while we're at work while he tinkers with inventions of his. Most of it was beyond both me and Wing, but he worked on it with ease.

"I'll go check and make sure he hasn't killed himself... can you go make us something to eat?" I asked.

"Sure thing, but I expect you to cook next time." said Wing as I went into the basement that served as a makeshift lab. When I walked in I was almost instantly hit with the overwhelming feeling of being surrounded by things I don't understand. Gizmos gadgets and machines surround me, making all sorts of noises and lights. I was glad the room was as always, very well lit so I wouldn't accidentally run into something that I wasn't supposed to.

"Hey Cloud, how are you?" asked Tails as he lifted his head covered in machine oil.

Tails was a golden yellow fox with a white muzzle and matching white chest fur. His blue eyes shone with a happiness that was almost always there. His defining feature by far however was that he had two fluffy tails, golden in body, with a white tip similar to mine, but it went much further down the tail, which is why we called him Tails, plural.

"Hey Tails, how was your day?" I asked him.

"It went great! I've been working on a new security system, and I'm getting close to finishing it!" he said jumping slightly in excitement.

I smiled at my freinds childlike enthusiasm before stopping him to ask him a question.

"That's great but... what exactly is it going to do, notify the police?" I asked him

"Nope!" he said "If you get the password wrong three times, it'll take a picture of whoever is there, send it to all of our phones, and then blast him with 10,000 volts of electricity knocking him or her unconscious." He said smiling.

"Woah... talk about a security system... wait... what if we get the password wrong?" I asked him.

"Oh uh... let's just hope we don't get the password wrong." He said smiling awkwardly and rubbing the back of his head.

"You're crazy you know that..." I said laughing.

"If I wasn't I don't think I would have survived with you and Wing" laughed Tails in return.

"True... true... so how long until you finish it?" I asked him

"It's almost done, I just need some Minium... it's a kind of red stone that's really common, but is extremely conductive. There's field where you can find some about a half mile out of here, and I was going to head out tomorrow and get some."

"Alright, hey mind if me and Wing tag along? The exercise will be nice and we can grab a bite to eat together afterwards."

"Sure!" agreed Tails "You have money?"

"Nope" I said "Nevermind, let's just make ourselves a few sandwiches" I laughed.

"Alright... hey..." He smelled the air "What's that smell?"

"Wing is cooking dinner" I said "Come on, we should probably go tell him whatever he's cooking is burning...

0)-(0

The next morning we set out early into the fields to look for the Minium. Tails described it as a dark red stone and that he needed a piece about the size of our closed fist. When we arrived the fields weren't exactly what Tails had made it seem. Instead of comfortable grass and the occasional tree providing a lovely amount of shade, it was just a barren landscape of grey rocks, varying from the size of a grain of sand, to the size of a head.

"Well tails... when you said 'plains' this isn't exactly what I imagined..." stated Wing as he looked at the endless sea of stone.

"Well it's flat," said Tails defensively "Either way it's irrelevant, just keep your eyes out, it might be buried under the stone slightly, so don't be afraid to dig around, once you get it though be careful, it's like glass and shatters easily" he said before jumping down into the field.

It went on like this for a few hours. Us poking through the stone looking for the Minium, every once in awhile we would find a piece, but it would usually either be too small or it would be lying in pieces all around.

"Hey Tails... how common were you talking about when you said common?" I asked wiping the sweat off my forehead.

"Common as in we could find it with effort, come on dude, don't be a wimp!" said Tails, but I could clearly see he was getting tired as well, it was the middle of summer and we hadn't exactly brought water with us.

"Is there a stream or something nearby?" I asked "I'm getting pretty thirsty."

"I think theres one about half a mile into here" said Tails, follow me. We followed him until we came across a small stream in the rocks, flowing with glistening water. We took a moment to drink and cool down a bit by the lake until I wandered off to use the bathroom.

I looked around for a place away from my two friends until I saw a flash of color in the rocks. Instantly thinking back to our purpose here, I rushed over to it happy that our journey would come to an end and we could head back home. However, as I got closer, I realized that it wasn't the darkish red that I was looking for, but rather a light shade of purple. Curious at what it was I jogged over to it and picked it up. Wondering as to what is was.

I held in my hand what actually looked like some kind of expensive necklace. It's entire body was gold decorated with swirls engraved into the gold lacing. On the front however, there was what looked like a red gem on the front in the shape of a lightning bolt. It was a very pretty necklace and I instantly started to wonder what I should do with it.

I didn't have much time though as I was blinded by a white flash as what felt like electricity sourcing from the necklace surging through my arm and into my body, causing me to fly backwards into nothingness as my vision blacked out.

0)-(Unknown Location)-(0

I'm not sure how long I was out, nor when I woke up, but when I did, I was surprised with almost all my senses.

The first one I noticed was the lack of aches and pains. I was no doctor by any means, but I was pretty sure that after being knocked unconscious and falling flat on your back you were to at least feel something. I slowly stood up and looked around me to take in my surroundings.

What I saw baffled me to no end. I couldn't really describe what I was seeing as anything I've seen before. It looked sort of like a glowing dark blue area that seemed to stretch on forever. Within that dark blue area were streaks of lighter shades of blue that varied from only a slight difference from the background, but others that were so light blue it was almost white.

My ears were flooded with sweet musical notes that resembled some kind of classical music that I had never heard before, it was very soothing to say the least. The entire sequence, however strange it was, actually felt very relaxing. It didn't make me want to sleep, but it allowed my muscles to relax and generally make me feel at ease.

"It's beautiful isn't it?"

I spun around at the female voice behind me.

Behind me was what appeared to be a mobian hedgehog. Her entire body was a glowing light blue that matched with the theme of the rest of the room. The only way I could truly describe her was as some kind of hologram, as she appeared as if you could just wave your hand through her, but not quite see through her.

"Um... y-yeah it is..." I answered awkwardly.

"Tell me... do you know what that is..." she asked as she gestured towards my hand.

I glanced down to realize I was still holding tight to the necklace that was clenched in my hand, which caused me to wonder what made me grip it so tightly that I wouldn't lose it.

"No I don't... what is it?" I asked "Then I have a couple thousand more questions after that. Along the lines of 'Who are you?' and 'Where are we?'"

"I'm sorry but I can't explain everything, we don't have much time" she told me in her voice sweet and kind "But... before we start, I think it's important for you to know that no matter what happens, I'm on your side..."

"Where are we?" I asked again getting slightly more nervous.

"This is the space in between dimensions" she said "It's known by many names but most just refer to it as The Void"

"Dimensions?" I questioned.

"Yes dimensions, like worlds, each with a different set of people, reality, and usually species" she explained "In fact you're traveling to a different one as we speak, so please choose your questions carefully."

I briefly thought about asking how much time I had, but I decided not to waste time with that. I had way too many questions and not nearly enough time for them to be explained. Therefor, I just asked the obvious and polite one.

"What's your name?" I asked her, as I was getting sick of not knowing what to call her.

"I'm known by many names." She said "But you can call me Mel, I've always thought that was a pretty name..."

Mel... I wracked my brain to remember it before asking the next question, and a very big one on the list of questions to be asked.

"Why am I here? Why me?" I asked Mel, who in return gave me a sad smile.

"There was a prophecy Cloud... you're here to save both worlds from a great evil..." Mel said looking at me like a proud mother.

Instantly I began to feel more confused than I already was, but I suddenly started to feel a tugging on my body, almost as if my entire body was stretching into a different shapes. I glanced at Mel to see her spiraling away in who know's what direction.

"We are out of time Cloud" Said Mel, her beautiful voice starting to fade away "Acquaint yourself with the world as quickly as possible! From there I will tell you what..."

It seemed like she said more, but her voice had faded into nothingness. Blending into the blue that was slowly starting to tunnel into grey. My thoughts turned to what I could find and I instantly wished that I had asked her about it. My vision gradually started to fade, and my last thought was "Here we go..." before my body hit the pavement and I feel unconscious.


End file.
